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Go Back   Lampwork Etc. > Business as usual > Website help and critique

Website help and critique -- Get assistance with your website.

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  #1  
Old 2011-05-04, 11:15am
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fyrebeadz* fyrebeadz* is offline
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Default Learning how to build websites

I've been considering this for awhile now as I know I won't be able to spin glass for the rest of my life. Especially since I have issues from the Lyme's Disease last fall that will follow me around for the rest of my days.

Unfortunately where I live they have discontinued classes for this and traveling anywhere else is not an option.

How difficult is it to learn this from books teaching myself? Is it doable? Does anyone have any suggestions for great books that are easy to understand? What softwear would I need to build websites in?

Dreamweaver?
Front Page?

Maybe these are outdated now, I have no idea. I have a very basic (simple) understanding of writing html. Any thoughts/suggestions are welcome.

Thank-you.
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  #2  
Old 2011-05-04, 12:26pm
Angie09 Angie09 is offline
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Hi Donna,

I have been a print designer for 20 years and started web when it first came available coding html by hand. Since then there has been sooo many changes and they continue on a daily basis. Dreamweaver is still the industry standard and a great source for online teaching is http://www.lynda.com. They have everything and you can learn at your own pace for a very reasonable rate.

However, at this time in our world situation, I personally would not recommend anyone start learning website design .... ecommerce...yes! Everyone and their brothers are "designing sites" and unless you go after large corporations, the money just isn't there. Course, in this day and age ... where is the money? I am considering going into e=commerce as that is the one area that still has not been easily accessed by the general public with templates/etc. Problem is, there is considerable programming involved and my brain is OLD!!!

I hope I did not put a damper on your idea ... it has been a fabulous career for me and the 90s were terrific financially .... but I'm looking to change as everyonen else starts riding the bandwagon and cheap templates become the norm. If you want to discuss this personally ... feel free to contact me by pm.

Angie
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  #3  
Old 2011-05-04, 1:34pm
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Thanks for your input Angie. And for the information. I looked around at the link you provided and I have no idea where to even begin, lol. I should have clarified that I want to learn web design intermingled with e-commerce. If I have any questions I will PM you.

Thanks much!
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  #4  
Old 2011-05-05, 3:29pm
SteveWright SteveWright is offline
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I would start with a free web editor like HTML-Kit:
http://tinyurl.com/6fggt

I would also look through the tutorials for CSS at:
http://tinyurl.com/5fr26

Some HTML tutorials here:
http://tinyurl.com/bie

Then start building a simple page. Start with the Head elements, add a simple body and start embellishing from there. If you see an interesting feature on a site or a menu you like, do a view source and see if you can figure out how they did it.

There are a ton of free templates to get you thinking. I think this www thing will be around for a while. I think it is important enough to spend some time trying to get your head around it. There is a learning curve.

Steve
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  #5  
Old 2011-05-05, 7:01pm
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Check at your local community college. Most of them are offering beginning web design classes these days. Also check out www.w3schools.com.

I learned from books (maybe 15 years ago?) so it's not impossible. The first sites I "designed" had codes written all in Notepad. Then I used some of the free web site softwares that were coming on the market, then switched to Adobe PageMill then GoLive and then finally Dreamweaver. I still do a good bit of coding by hand though. There really aren't any good javascript and css editors that do what you need them to do. I mainly use Dreamweaver to preview sites before I upload them.

If you are only wanting to do sites for yourself and maybe a friend here and there, then you can probably figure it out on your own. If you are going to be getting into the business of building/maintaining sites for others, definitely seek out some classes. At a minimum you'll want to know HTML, CSS, some basic javascript, and probably some PHP and AJAX. You'll also have to have a pretty firm grasp on image editing software. You can do a lot of what you'll need to do in Photoshop, but I almost always start in Illustrator.
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Last edited by Cosmo; 2011-05-05 at 7:04pm.
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  #6  
Old 2011-05-07, 8:14am
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Thanks Cosmo and Steve. Unfortunately the classes I need have been discontinued here where I live and traveling out of town isn't an option. I will definately research the sources you've both provided here. Thank-you.
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  #7  
Old 2011-05-07, 6:12pm
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Check to see if they offer them online. A lot of colleges offer distance learning these days.
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  #8  
Old 2011-05-17, 8:47am
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Waving at Donna!
I don't have any words of advice about learning the web from the ground up (I utilize a site designer/webmaster friend for Fabfrit.com) but wanted to tell you how gorgeous your banner is.
Clean, colorful ... just lovely....I love, love it!
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  #9  
Old 2011-06-08, 1:58pm
gingrichsart gingrichsart is offline
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I taught myself enough HTML to get my website up and running. I'm only using HTML at the moment. O'Reilly puts out killer books. I bought this one:

http://www.amazon.com/HTML-XHTML-Def...7565899&sr=8-1

It helps that I had prior experience with a mark-up language (LaTex), but they are not really that difficult to learn.

You can look at source code for other websites that you like and see how certain features are created. That's how I discovered buttons.

When you're through creating your web page, you can run it through a validator:

http://validator.w3.org/

to make certain that your page isn't somehow broken. A lot of them really are broken but seem to work out just fine anyway.

You can create your website on your PC/MAC and then view it there before uploading it to the wwwebby. I use filezilla to upload -- it's free (I think).

Love your banner too.
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  #10  
Old 2011-06-08, 10:07pm
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Donna..first,I feel badly for you about your health issues.I have many of my own with RA,fibro and other micellany that affect my hands..including a titanium rod in my hand wrist and arm i had to have put it last year.2 of my left hand fingers are curved in badly and I wish i had discovered this hobby many years ago as i know i would have been really good at it instead of mediochre.I still have hopes of staying in Lampworking in some capacity.I understand you are talking about a website but can you tell me about an Etsy store? Do they help set it up? My hubby is a computer guy and is sure he can get up a website for me..we'll see about that but I guess its probably inappropriate to ask what Etsy does for you...that wasn't your question.I can't do the travel thing either and I feel as well..I am too old to understand the ins and outs of serious computer technology and if I get that in my head..something else will fall out
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  #11  
Old 2011-06-09, 7:21pm
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Validation isn't a big deal. A lot of teachers stress it, and honestly it's probably a good idea to know something about it, but it's not necessary.
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  #12  
Old 2011-06-14, 5:10am
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Awww, thanks you guys/gals about the nice comments on my banner.

I've been out of town and just first got back to this thread.
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